This invention relates to tape dispensers, and particularly this invention relates to tape dispensers of the sort utilized to dispense tape which is typically employed for purposes of the sealing boxes and packages. Such tape typically has a width of two inches up to 3.5 inches; and typically such tape is wound on a core which has an inner diameter in the range of 1.5 to 3 inches. The present invention provides a tape dispenser from which a length of tape may be dispensed and cut from the roll of tape, where the hand of the person operating the tape dispenser is protected from contacting the edges of the roll of tape mounted in the dispenser.
The type of tape for which dispensers in keeping with present invention are provided is typically referred to as xe2x80x9cmailing tapexe2x80x9d. As noted, mailing tape typically has a width of from two inches up to about 3.5 inches, and the tape is wound on cylindrical cores which have the same width as the tape and which have an inner diameter in the range of 1.5 to 3 inches. The tape is intended to be unwound or unreeled from the core when the core is mounted in a dispenser. Quite often, in mailing rooms which have large volumes, and packing rooms where cardboard boxes may be erected and taped using wide tape, the dispenser for the tape is large and/or automated. On the other hand, it may very often occur, especially in small mailing rooms or offices, and very often in household purposes, that a smaller roll of mailing tape is required to be used in such a manner that essentially the mailing tape is to be held in the hand.
However, it is inconvenient to dispense or unreel tape directly from a roll without the use of the dispenser of some sort into which the roll of tape has been rotatably mounted. Moreover, such dispenser must be small enough to be held in the hand, and to be manipulated so as to permit a length of tape to be dispensed from the roll of tape, and then to be cut therefrom using a cutter member which is an integral part of the dispenser.
On the other hand, such dispensers as are presently known for hand held dispensing of mailing tape, as discussed hereafter, are both awkward to use and are uncomfortable to use, especially by female persons who typically have smaller hands, the skin of which may be less callused than those of a male co-worker.
The inventor herein has unexpectedly discovered that the provision of a pair of cover wing portions which extend over the edges of the roll of tape mounted in the tape dispenser not only provides structural rigidity when the dispenser is in use, but greater comfort to the hand of the user is afforded. On the other hand, the provision of the pair of cover wing portions does not significantly affect the flexibility of the side walls of the dispenser, so that a used core may be removed from the dispenser and a new roll of tape may be installed in the dispenser.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,468,332 issued Nov. 21, 1995 to Dretzka et al, teaches a tape dispenser having a polymeric frame with a cutter mounted on one end and an arched portion in the upper region of the dispenser. The arched portion is resiliently flexible, having a generally cylindrically concave surface adjacent the periphery of the roll of tape, and is adapted to be received in the palm of the hand of a user to space the user""s hand away from the rotating roll of tape as it is being dispensed. However, as it happens, the edges of a roll of tape mounted in commercial embodiments of the tape dispenser remain exposed, and they are typically in contact with the hand of the user.
The patent also teaches a pair of inwardly directed tab portions which are defined at their edges by cam surfaces, and which have arcuate retaining surfaces in the upper region of each tab portion. The purpose of the cam surfaces is to urge the tape into the region adjacent the cutter member, so that the tape may be cut upon appropriate manipulation of the dispenser.
Another U.S. Pat. No. is 4,961,525 issued Oct. 9, 1990 to Corbo et al. That patent teaches a reusable tape dispenser where the edges of the roll of tape mounted in the dispenser are fully exposed. The dispenser has a pair of flexible side walls which are secured using releasable locking means. Also, a pair of opposed tabs are located beneath a base wall portion to provide guides for the tape as it is being dispensed, and to assure its proximity to the cutter member.
The present invention provides a tape dispenser for dispensing a length of tape from a roll of tape which is rotatably mounted thereon, and for cutting the dispensed length of tape away from the roll of tape. The tape dispenser comprises a body which has a rear portion and a front portion, and a cutter member which is disposed at the front edge of the front portion.
The body has a pair of substantially planar side walls, and a pair of inwardly directed hub portions which are located in the rear portion of the body. Each of the hub portions has at least an arcuate portion in the top region thereof, and the arcuate portion is adapted so as to rotatably support the core of a roll of tape when placed thereon.
A cover portion extends between the side walls in the front portion of the body, behind the cutter member.
A cover wing portion extends inwardly from each side wall in the upper region of the rear portion of the body, so as to cover the edges of a roll of tape in that upper region when the roll of tape is placed in the tape dispenser.
The pair of side walls is sufficiently flexible so as to permit them to be spread apart in the rear portion thereof in order to remove or install a roll of tape over the hub portion. The pair of side walls have elastic memory so as to restore themselves to a normal unflexed condition whereby each of the side walls is substantially planar.
Typically, the transition between each of the planar side walls and each of the cover wing portions is curved.
The cover wing portions may typically extend inwardly from each of the side walls also in the rear region of the rear portion of the body.
A pair of tabs may be provided, which extend inwardly from the pair of side walls in the front region of the rear portion of the body, below the cover portion. Each of the tabs includes an arcuate retaining surface which extends forwardly therefrom.
Typically, there is at least one opening that is formed through the transition area between each of the cover wing portions and the respective one of the pair of side walls.
There may be a pair of ribbed finger rests that are formed on the pair of side walls in the region between the front portion and the rear portion thereof.
The arcuate hub portion of each of the side walls defines a horizontally disposed centre axis of rotation which extends sideways through the rear portion of the body, so as to rotatably mount a roll of tape in the tape dispenser.
Typically, the body of the tape dispenser of the present invention is injection molded from a polymeric plastics material chosen from the group consisting of ABS, polystyrene, and combinations thereof.